THE Cricket West Indies (CWI) selection panel has announced a provisional 18-man squad ahead of the three upcoming five-match T20 International (T20I) series against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan.
Explosive batsmen Shimron Hetmyer and Andre Russell have been named after being inconsistent members of the team over the past year.
A CWI media release on Tuesday, said, "The expanded squad maintains the blend of experienced players with exciting young talent as the West Indies continue preparations in the build up to the defence of their ICC T20 World Cup title, to be held in India in October-November 2021. Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas and Hayden Walsh Jnr return alongside the majority of the squad who featured in the 2-1 T20I series victory against Sri Lanka in March."
Hetmyer has not been a consistent member of the West Indies team over the past year owing to fitness and covid19 concerns. Along with other senior players, he chose not to tour Bangladesh earlier this year out of personal fears and personal concerns because of covid19.
Russell has been away from the West Indies set-up recently because of injury and also because of covid19. He declined an opportunity to tour New Zealand in late 2020 because he was "going from one lockdown (tournament) to another."
The provisional squad will quarantine and train in St Lucia ahead of the first T20I series against South Africa, starting on June 26 at the Grenada National Cricket Stadium. The official squad will subsequently be selected and announced ahead of each series.
CWI’s lead selector, Roger Harper, explained the thinking behind the squad.
Harper said, “The provisional T20I squad was put together with all T20I home series matches against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan in mind. This gives us the opportunity to continue to build towards the upcoming World Cup and to determine our best squad and our ideal 11.”
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons is confident going into the summer and looking forward to the T20 World Cup.
“These upcoming T20Is are crucial in terms of our preparation for the ICC T20 World Cup," Simmons said.
"We have assembled a very solid squad with experienced world-class match-winners and some exciting young talented players, ready to explode onto the global stage and do great things for West Indies cricket. We are at that point where we have identified those who we will look to be the core of the squad to defend our World Cup title, so we want to make sure the upcoming matches create that environment – the way we train, the way we plan, the way we execute and the chemistry within the group.
"We won five years ago, so the next few weeks and months will be major stepping stones on the road towards defending our title and being world champions for a third time.”
The West Indies are the defending ICC T20 world champions and also lifted the title in 2012.
CWI said it is working closely with regional governments, their Ministries of Health and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA)
